Agenda item

Background:

This report asked the Cabinet to agree to assume responsibility for the discharge of Gravesham Borough Council’s Internal Audit and Counter Fraud functions. The report explained that these proposals were permitted under the Local Authorities (Arrangements for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2012.

With the agreement of the Cabinet, Councillor Maple addressed the meeting. He spoke in support of the proposed shared Internal Audit and Fraud Service subject to the development of governance and operational arrangements, which would safeguard the Council’s position and sustain the high quality service currently provided at Medway.

It was noted that Gravesham’s Cabinet had considered these proposals on 7 September and had delegated authority to its officers to enable the new arrangements for a shared Internal Audit and Fraud Service to be put into effect. It was further noted that a report had been submitted to Medway Council’s Audit Committee on 24 September 2015 regarding the proposals.

The report explained how Medway’s Chief Finance Officer would assume responsibility for the management and delivery of audit and counter fraud services for both Medway and Gravesham and the recommendations sought permission to enter into the necessary agreements with Gravesham.

It was explained that Article 10 of Medway Council’s Constitution stated that a decision whether or not to accept a delegation of a function from another authority shall be reserved to the Council. In light of this the recommendations in the report were revised to ensure compliance with Constitutional requirements. In view of the timescales, with a proposed go live date of 1 December 2015, it was not considered to be in the Council’s interest to delay and wait for consideration at the next Full Council on 21 January 2016. It was therefore proposed to use the Urgency Procedures in the Constitution to enable the Chief Executive to act on behalf of the Council. A report of this use of urgency provisions would be made to the Council meeting in January 2016.

It was further noted that in line with rule 16.11 of Chapter 4, Part 5 of the Constitution, call-in can be waived where any delay likely to be caused by the call-in process would seriously prejudice the Council’s or the Public’s interests. In this case, the shared service was intended to go live on 1 December 2015, with all of the Gravesham staff transferring to Medway under TUPE on that date. Therefore, the Chairman of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee had agreed that the executive decisions proposed were reasonable in all the circumstances and to them being treated as a matter of urgency and to waive call-in.

Reasons:

The actions will enable the internal audit and counter fraud services of Medway and Gravesham councils to be delivered through a fully shared service, delivering cost savings to both authorities compared to existing arrangements.